1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to media content viewing applications, and in particular, to a method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for dynamically scrolling through a large quantity of visual data in deep hierarchies.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is notoriously difficult to manage large quantities of visual data (e.g., video clips and/or static images). Applications using such data either let the user see the contents in thumbnails of a single folder at once, making scanning virtually impossible, or integrate thumbnails in the hierarchy and cause the user to loose context. Scanning is an important task as media is not always identified properly and visual recognition is used. To better understand the problem, a description of prior art media content viewing applications may be useful.
Often times, users have a need to locate a particular video clip (and/or static image) from within one or more extensive clip libraries/folders. For example, a user may be editing a film that contains hundreds or thousands of clips and the user must browse/search through libraries/folders to identify the clip of interest. Once located, the user can select the clip for further editing.
Prior art systems provide various methods for searching/locating such media/video clips/static images. For example, a user may scroll through a list of media until found. In such prior art systems, a significant portion of the screen real estate may be consumed by images. In this regard, an image from the clip may be displayed in a thumbnail or miniature version so that the user can scroll through the images searching for the desirable clip. Unfortunately, since the images consume significant screen real estate, the context of the clip within the media library/film may be lost. For example, the location within a hierarchy (in which clips are represented based on one or more properties) may not be visible. Alternatively, a hierarchy may be shown, but such a hierarchy may consume significant screen real estate leaving little to no room for the thumbnail images.
In an example of prior art product (e.g., SMOKE AND FLAME 2012™ available from AUTODESK, INC., the assignee of the present invention), media held in libraries may be viewable as thumbnails or a list within a hierarchy. FIG. 1A illustrates a prior art screen shot for viewing media content with a hierarchical listing of the folder structure is displayed in a first area and thumbnails representing the media content clips are displayed in a second viewing area. Hierarchy 102 enables the ability to navigate to the location of thumbnails 104. However, hierarchy 102 is a hierarchy only and is not tied to the current location of the browsing of the thumbnails 104. Accordingly, it is difficult (if not impossible) to determine where in the hierarchy 102 the thumbnails 104 are located.
FIG. 1B illustrates a prior art screen shot for viewing media content as thumbnails 104 without the simultaneous display of the hierarchy of FIG. 1A. As illustrated, there is no ability to determine where the thumbnails are located within the folder/storage structure. Instead, the user must scroll through all of the thumbnails without any contextual reference point.
FIG. 1C illustrates a prior art screen shot for viewing media content/clips within a generic file system as well as within an internal media library. Area 100 illustrates the browsing of media files within a generic file system while area 101 illustrates browsing media files within an internal media library of the prior art. Similar to FIG. 1A, both the independent hierarchy 102 is displayed as well as thumbnails 104. However, in FIG. 1C, to provide context within the generic file system 100, thumbnails 104 are displayed within a hierarchical structure 106. Media/thumbnails 104 are indented within the hierarchy 106 causing available real-estate 108 to reduce in size as the hierarchy 106 becomes deeper, and reducing the amount of tiles/thumbnails 104 that can be viewed at once. Scrolling could push the identification of the containing folder and its hierarchy off-screen causing the user to loose context. As illustrated, media clips are represented by thumbnails 104 and as a user progresses deeper into a hierarchy 106, the set of thumbnail images 104 are indented creating increasingly more grey space 108 that is unused. Eventually, if the hierarchy 106 is deep enough, the thumbnails 104 may not be viewable at all. Similarly, if the user scrolls through the clips, the hierarchy 106 and the ability to determine the context of the clip within the library/hierarchy 106 would disappear.
Similarly, the user can also view the media content within an internal media library 101. Such a media library 101 displays a single library at a time (as identified by the selected library in area 110.
In another prior art system (e.g., FINAL CUT PRO X™ available from APPLE™), media is organized based on a specific attribute, such as the date the content was created. For instance in such a case, each day is a container, akin to a folder, and it contains all media created on that date. All dates are presented on the same level so the hierarchy is never more than one level deep. Media can be viewed either as thumbnails or lists integrated in the hierarchy; in the latter case, only the selected media is also viewed as a thumbnail. As you scroll though the data (either in thumbnails or list view), the container identification moves off-screen leaving the user without context.
In yet another prior art product (e.g., PREMIERE PRO™ available from ADOBE™), media is either viewed as a list with a single thumbnail for the selection or as tiled thumbnails from one folder. Context feedback is done through a breadcrumb towards the top of the window.
In view of the above, what is needed is a graphical user interface that provides the ability to scroll through a large amount of images/thumbnails/tiles while also maintaining the visibility of the hierarchical structure that the images are associated with.